National Taiwan University (NTU), which is to name a campus square after White Terror victim Chen Wen-chen (陳文成), is holding a competition to choose a design for the square.
The NTU Campus Planning Committee said that the 1,107m2 space, which will be called “Dr Chen Wen-chen Incident Memorial Square” (陳文成事件紀念廣場), is between the 1st Student Activity Center and the Department of Library and Information Science building, where the body of Chen, who was an NTU alumnus and a democracy activist, was found in 1981.
The naming of the square is aimed at increasing public awareness of Chen’s death and his contribution to Taiwan’s democratic development, the committee said.
Student representatives and teachers brought up the idea of establishing a memorial square on campus in 2013, which was approved by an university affairs meeting in 2014, said committee convener Huang Liling (黃麗玲), who is also an associate professor at the university’s Graduate Institute of Building and Planning.
The committee said it is calling for projects to redesign the space in a way that would attract students and the public to visit and learn more about Chen.
Participants can submit their designs between April 30 and May 30, the committee said, adding that the winning design would be given a NT$100,000 cash prize.
The name of the square and Chen’s accomplishments must be displayed in the square and its theme should express the spirit of “courage and freedom,” the committee said.
Committe member Wu Hsin-Yu (吳鑫餘) said that the White Rose Monument in front of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the Jan Palach Square in Prague’s Old Town are examples of such squares, adding that the committee plans to create a public space that signifies the role the incident played in the development of Taiwan’s democracy.
NTU Student Council academic officer Weng Yu-lin (翁毓聆) said it will be the first democracy memorial square on campus and would also be a representation of transitional justice.
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
The government should improve children’s outdoor spaces and accelerate carbon reduction programs, as the risk of heat-related injury due to high summer temperatures rises each year, Greenpeace told a news conference yesterday. Greenpeace examined summer temperatures in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to determine the effects of high temperatures and climate change on children’s outdoor activities, citing data garnered by China Medical University, which defines a wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) of 29°C or higher as posing the risk of heat-related injury. According to the Central Weather Administration, WBGT, commonly referred to as the heat index, estimates
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taipei placed 14th in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Best Student Cities 2026 list, its highest ever, according to results released yesterday. With an overall score of 89.1, the city climbed 12 places from the previous year, surpassing its previous best ranking of 17th in 2019. Taipei is “one of Asia’s leading higher-education hubs,” with strong employer activity scores and students “enjoying their experience of the city and often keen to stay after graduation,” a QS staff writer said. In addition to Taipei, Hsinchu (71st), Tainan (92nd), Taichung (113th) and Taoyuan (130th) also made QS’ list of the top 150 student cities. Hsinchu showed the
RSS